Many households, particularly in rural Ireland, are being crippled by rising fuel costs. This has been going on for a long time, not just in the past few weeks. Approximately 315,000 households are in arrears on their energy bills, and that figure is up 20% in the past year. Rather than acknowledging this reality, the Government chose to respond disdainfully and dismissively to protesters’ very real concerns, and the response was totally out of touch. What we saw from the Government was a failure of leadership and …

A question I ask myself day in and day out, a question the Palestinians ask themselves day in and day out, and a question Irish people ask themselves constantly is why the Irish Government is not doing anything in the face of the ongoing human rights violations and ethnic cleansing in Gaza and the West Bank. Perhaps it is because we hear there is a ceasefire. Perhaps this is why the Government is not doing anything. We all know that, in reality, there is no actual ceasefire. Since the so-called ceasefire, Israeli a…

I am pulling on what Senator McCarthy said about Ireland's commitment to human rights not being theoretical but put into practice. That is why I very much welcome Senator Boyhan's amendment. I have similar amendments later on, but in case we do not get to them, I am choosing to speak on some of them now because they are related. We heard from the Tánaiste last year that: The ECHR’s guarantees cannot be negotiated away, despite what some politicians might claim. Sometimes it is necessary to state the obvious: protec…

I move amendment No. 18: In page 26, between lines 23 and 24, to insert the following: "(2) Any order or regulation made under this Act shall comply with the European Convention on Human Rights.". I touched on a few of the points earlier during Senator Boyhan's amendment, but I will reiterate some of the elements. In his response to the contribution I made earlier, the Minister said that to suggest that the signature in December 2025 of the Irish State and the Minister on the political declaration by 27 members of …

I appreciate why the Minister is saying he has to comply with the ECHR but I do not see why we could not accept the amendments, especially the amendment on reporting. I just think it is a non-argument and we have had that in the Chamber before, though not in relation to justice. I think in the mental health Bill we were told we could not include the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child for some reason. The idea we cannot put the legislation and governing articles the Government says it abides by in its legislat…

There have been cases where that has happened but it has been an overinterpretation by national courts, as I have mentioned before. There is that dialogue and it is ultimately the responsibility of domestic courts to go back and challenge that legislation. Those cases were horrific but deportations on criminal grounds have happened as well under the rulings.

Deportations under criminal grounds have taken place. Moreover, we have a handful of anomalies that should not have happened where deportations were blocked, but the domestic courts should be going back to the ECHR and having those proper litigation strategies in place when they do not agree with a decision on those things. Article 8, as I mentioned before, is something that can be looked at with proportionality and it is the one that is blocking the deportations, so it is really important to clarify that again. To…

Hear, hear.

I welcome the Minister of State. I welcome the opportunity to speak on the proposed regulations under the Data Protection Act 2018 and the scoping exercises that will be under way in 2026. Right now, children with spinal bifida and scoliosis are being failed, not just in care delivery, but in how their needs are defined, measured and, ultimately, understood. I have been in touch with patient advocates and advocacy groups on this issue. There is significant pain and frustration about the scandalous failure to treat …

This week in Washington, the Taoiseach told business leaders that the Government is prioritising the growth of data centres in Ireland. We already have, I think, 89 data centres in Ireland, with planning permissions approved for even more. Data centres are, of course, critical infrastructure but they currently consume over 20% of our electricity. This is huge compared to our EU neighbours. The next two highest countries are the Netherlands at 5.2% and Luxembourg at 4.8%. It is estimated that by 2030, data centres w…

I will be speaking to some of the amendments Senator Noonan spoke about and a few others. I will let the Minister know which ones they are when I reach them. Amendment No. 38 provides that "A member of An Garda Síochána or an immigration officer shall not arrest an applicant under this section for the sole reason that he or she is an applicant, or on the basis of his or her nationality." The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, IHREC, has cited numerous mechanisms that deprive international protection applic…

On amendment No. 21, I appreciate that, as the Minister said, the best interest of the child is mentioned in other parts of the Bill. For this amendment, we had consultation with the Ombudsman for Children and that is why it worded as it is. We have not just picked these six categories off the top of our heads. Surely a seventh category could be added, with any other factors taken into account should the Minister feel it is limiting. Perhaps that is something that could be looked into on Report Stage. The Minister …

As the Minister said, that is not what we are implying at all. We know that not every child coming into the State would automatically be granted asylum. For clarification, that is not what this is about. This is about taking into consideration the entire process. We are talking about the question of the suitability of detention and so on in terms of specific vulnerabilities. I do not think this is a controversial amendment in any way. If we are all on the same page about the protection and safeguarding of children …

I commend Senator Boyhan on this well thought-out amendment, particularly the reference to "the European Convention on Human Rights, and the UN Charter". This legislation is one of the biggest changes we will see to the asylum process in Ireland since the early 2000s. It is crucially important, particularly in light of the Minister's decision to sign the Danish letter in December, which seeks to explore a political declaration on potentially withdrawing or changing the provisions around Article 3, which is the prot…

Maybe linked to that is the question as to whether we believe in the universality of the international human rights framework, which the European Convention on Human Rights, ECHR, was designed to uphold, or whether we believe that some people have more rights than others, and whether we should prioritise different people based on where they are from in the context of the rights they can access. Of course, Article 3 of the ECHR is the article in respect of which Ireland has taken two interstate cases - the only inte…

With regard to the idea of legal counselling versus legal advice, the Minister says this is a new concept he is bringing onto a statutory footing in Ireland. As my understanding is that advice has to be conducted by a solicitor or barrister, who exactly will carry out this counselling? It is good that some concept of legal counselling has been brought forward and that the Minister has given a definition. It is quite baffling that it has taken so long to get it but nevertheless it is good that it is here. We do have…

I welcome the Minister of State. It should be noted that twice in the past two weeks I have asked to speak to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about this issue and the Department has not sent someone in, which is disappointing. In addition, this Commencement matter relates to the Department of justice, so there are actually six appropriate Ministers or Ministers of State who could have come to the House deal with it. I know that is nothing to with Deputy McConalogue, but I just wanted to put it on the re…

I thank the Minister of State. Can he be explicit about whether the Department and the Government will meet IHREC before those negotiations in less than two weeks? IHREC has a clear mandate in this area. It has been given that mandate by the Irish Government and has a clear interest and stake in this. I get that the Irish Government believes in the Good Friday Agreement but I did not get an answer on what consultation was done about the implications of signing a letter that would see us question Articles 3 and 8, t…

I was informed by the Department last night. I appreciate that but the issue still stands that for two weeks in a row, we have not had suitable representation in the case of six Ministers.

Yesterday evening, we saw very relieved faces in Dublin Airport and heard from people who had just got off an evacuation flight from Dubai. We heard how incredibly stressful and difficult it has been for people who have been trapped in the region over the last few days. The people in the region have now been told by the Irish Government that they are going to have to pay €800 per seat for an evacuation flight. This is ridiculous. It is scandalous. It stinks of a shakedown rather than any well thought-out evacuation…